Hindsight Can Suck Sometimes
by mandaree1
Summary: Lena and Webby visit a room full of shadows, down by the water.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Ducktales!**

 **Title: Hindsight Can Suck Sometimes**

 **Summary: Lena and Webby visit a room full of shadows, down by the water.**

 **Setting: Post-canon. Lena and Webby are both adults.**

 **...**

It takes six years, a bad run in with a dragon, and a skosh bit of wine for her to get up the gumption to return to her old hangout. The place oozes teenager- posters of movies and boy bands she'd once found attractive, that grungy lava lamp, a _really_ moldy can of ravioli on the floor. A distant, familiar part of her felt it was fitting- the lair of a witch and her shadow, built from gross things and covered by a teen trying to be human. Deep down, even at twenty one, Lena still appreciated the aesthetic. Not so much the mildew.

"Dude," Lena breathed. "I'm getting all feelsy over this."

"Same!" Webby said- well, cheered- as she bravely flopped back onto her old bed. Lena spied something scuttle up the wall from what had once been her pillow. "Did I ever tell you I slept here, once?"

"You did not," she replied, eyebrows raising. "When was that?"

"After Magica zapped you into my shadow."

"Ah." She'd been too weak those first few days to be considered awake and functional. It was a blur. "And Flopsy didn't eat you? Wow."

"Which insect was Flopsy again?"

"The centipede."

Webby lifted her head. "I think I may have killed Flopsy. I'm so sorry."

"Meh. It was a kill or be killed situation, I'm sure." Lena carefully perched herself on the edge. The blanket wasn't just dirty- it was _greasy_. She couldn't suppress a shudder. "Fuck, man. I just wanna burn it with fire. How did I _live_ like this?"

"Did you live?" she queried. "'Cause, looking back on it, when I first met you... you weren't living. You were surviving."

"Maybe." Lena clasped her hands together. Something shiny and blue burst out between her fingers, and when she pulled them apart flames flicked at the edges of her feathers. "D'ya mind if I destroy all of this?"

Webby pushed herself up with some difficulty, eyes glowing. "Ooh, neat!"

Lena rolled the fire into a ball shape, holding it out. "Wanna feel? It can't hurt you; it's magic."

"Uh, duh?" She grabbed it with glee. "This is so cool! Wait, is it bad that I think it's cool that you're gonna torch your old room? It's super symbolic and deep but it's also arson, so..."

"Since when has the law stopped you, Webs?"

"You know what? You're right!" Webby tossed it back at her, grinning devilishly. "Let 'er rip!"

Laughter bubbled out of her throat. The way it echoed against the concrete walls reminded Lena just how unwelcome the sound had been, once. She pressed the fire ball to her beak as a sort of prayer than stood up, banishing it threateningly. "Alright, listen up you old bitch!"

"Go for her life, babe!"

"You did everything in your power to make me miserable! Well, guess what? I'm _happy_ , and I'm _real_ , and I'm _loved_! That's more than you'll ever be! I've fought dragons, and gargoyles, and crippling depression, and the only thing you'll ever be remembered for is your obsession with a dime!" Lena heaved ho. It bounced off the curtains that once covered plots and plans, catching flame almost instantly. Unlike real fire, it left no smoke, and it hurt no ducks. "You were never my family. You just pretended. And out of all the things you've done to me... that was the cruelest."

Webby reached out to touch her hand. "No more pretending," she promised.

"No more pretending," Lena echoed. "Come'on, pink. Let's get out of here."

The fire had reached the bed- which had been consumed in an alarmingly fast rate, even for fabric. Webby reached out to pat at the flames. "I'm sorry she did this to you."

Lena shrugged. "It's ashes now."

"Still. I wish there was a way we could've made this into a good place, like the mansion is for me now. But sometimes places are just bad."

She bent to peck her cheek. Lena was as perpetually tall as Webby was perpetually short. "It means a lot to me, Webby- how much you try. But this room is rank."

"Yeah," Webby agreed, going for her beak. They clacked together. From this distance, the bright pink scar across her eye looked like a smudge of marker. "There's a way better room waiting for us back home."

 **Author's Note: I heard it was Weblena week, so here I am lol.**

 **(Also some callbacks to other 'fics of mine- the safe fire was in one of the first stories I wrote of Lena (Whistling in the Night), though they were purple, and the eye scar is from Listen to my Voice, it's my Disguise )**

 **-Mandaree1**


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